CRYPTOGAMIA 
967 
SPLACH'NUM. Capsule on a large fleshy receptacle : Veil 
very large. 
POLYT'RICHUM. Capsule on a very small receptacle : Vei 
hairy. 
MNI'UM. Capsule with a lid: Veil smooth: Fruit-stalk not 
issuing out of a fleshy receptacle. 
PHAS'CUM. Capsule with a veil, and the rudiment of the 
lid which does not fall off 1 . 
BRY'UM. Capsule with a lid: Veil smooth:* Fruit-stalk 
terminal, issuing out of a fleshy tubercle. 
deemed altogether unexceptionable;) by embracing, under each species, the experience of 
the principal modern authorities, and adopting a more general and correct synonymy, the 
study of this minute tribe will be found to be considerably promoted. It does not appear, 
as yet, that any other European country affords a greater number of species of Mosses than 
the British Isles, in which have already been discriminated about three hundred. In Linn. 
Tr. vol. xiii. may be seen a Memoir by Mr. James Drummond, F.L.S. who occupied him¬ 
self with the seeds or sporules of Mosses, and succeeded in raising more than thirty different 
kinds; proving also that those processes of germinating seed which Hedwig called cotyle¬ 
dons, are by no means analogous to those of Phaenogamic plants. The seeds, or sporules of 
Mosses, differ, in tolo , from the seeds of the more perfect Orders of plants. They have no 
integument, no embryo, consequently no radicle and plumule, nor are they essentially 
necessary for the increase of the plant. The sporule is in itself an homogeneous substance, 
producing indifferently from its surface roots and stems. (Vid. Nees Von Esenbeck in Act. 
Acad. Nat. Cur. vol. xii.) The simplicity of the general structure corresponds. The 
Phaenogamous plants, and even the Ferns, are furnished with tubular vessels. In the 
vegetables in question none such appear; all their parts are composed of but one cellular 
form.(rt) This want of tubular vessels is compensated by the softness, delicacy, and absorbent 
property of the cellular tissue. No species of Moss is altogether destitute of foliage, not 
even Buxbaumia aphylla. Nor is there a single instance of a petiolated leaf; neither 
does any Moss exist having hairy foliage, all are glabrous. Though Mosses are so diminu¬ 
tive as in some instances to be scarcely visible to the naked eye ; but which are neverthe¬ 
less as curious and complicated in their structure as the larger kinds; others will be found 
to attain two feet in length. Their most genial atmosphere is humidity. When crisped 
by a burning sun, or even dried for the herbarium, a slight shower, or sprinkling with 
water, will quickly resuscitate them ; so remarkable is their power of rapidly imbibing mois¬ 
ture. The Entomologist will not fail to discover among their roots a number of rare 
insects, as Linnaeus elegantly observes in Syst. Veg. “ Has radices incolarum fovent; ne 
adurantur a bruma hyberna ; ne exsiccantur a Sirio aestivo ; ne evellantur a vicissitudine 
vernali; ne corrumpantur a putramine autumnali.” To facilitate the study of this 
branch of science, in addition to the well-known works of our own countrymen, and the 
labours of German and French Physiologists already partially adopted; Prof. Hooker espe¬ 
cially recommends “ Stirpes Cryptogamse Vogeso-Rhenanae, auctoribus Mougesot et Nest- 
ler,” containing eight hundred specimens of as many species; “ Deutschland Moose, ’ or 
a Moss Pocket-book, by H. C. Funck; and similar collections by Mr. Hobson of Man¬ 
chester, and Mr. Drummond of Forfar, each of two volumes ; nor should the fasciculi 
now publishing at Oxford be omitted : as not only insuring greater accuracy than the best 
of plates, but as being far less expensive. E.) 
* In B. sessile , teetotum, and striatum , the veil is hairy. 
(«)(For ingenious illustrations,(more immediately connected with a natural arrangement 
of plants,) of the two grand divisions, viz. Cellulares, (Cryptogamous, or Acotyledonous 
plants,) and Vasculares , (Phanerogamous, or Cotyledonous plants,) we would refer to 
Mag. Nat, Hist. vol. i. 32—13G, et seq. E.) 
